If we Wake up every day as a Different Person
By Shiva
@Shiva49 (26228)
Singapore
December 29, 2017 7:47pm CST
“Don’t judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes”, this saying dates back to Cherokee tribe of Native Americans. This way we cultivate empathy and develop compassion. We need to be reminded of this basic truth all the time as humans are emotional and easily carried away. We need to accept others the same way we want to be accepted for a more forgiving world.
We wake up every day with carry forward issues that can be burdensome. I sometimes wonder how it would be if we wake up as another person to drive home the truth of creation that we are in it together. It is normal to think some are plain lucky to be a big boss but what is the reality like if we live a life of higher responsibility for a day? Also the “filthy” rich live out a day like the “dirt” poor and vice versa.
Those who have “arrived” may have a take they deserve every perquisite they enjoy, but they forget the role played by society in holding them up. Others make sacrifices, even willingly, for the few to rise to the top. They are ready to give way, to start with, so that few go further up the queue. Let us have the choice and hope it benefits society as a whole though if those ahead are conceited and shut the doors to others then society too pays a price.
We cannot change roles with another even for a day but for an inclusive society we need empathy and compassion. For that we should accept all are entitled to their place under the sun. No man is an island!
Let us keep the basics in mind as we cross over to a new year.
Image: Empathy from Pixabay free images
7 people like this
7 responses
@allen0187 (58444)
• Philippines
30 Dec 17
Thank you for sharing this.
Needed to read something like this today.
2 people like this
@kobesbuddy (74830)
• East Tawas, Michigan
30 Dec 17
Empathy and love are the two basic reasons, God gave his very life for the entire world! His charity overcomes all obstacles we face in life. He made me unique, to walk in my own shoes and nobody else's!
2 people like this
@Shiva49 (26228)
• Singapore
30 Dec 17
@kobesbuddy That is the way to show empathy and become part of society - siva
2 people like this
@kobesbuddy (74830)
• East Tawas, Michigan
30 Dec 17
@Shiva49 We are called to help others, in need. That's what makes me happy, doing good things for people, I really care about
2 people like this
@khagendra1994 (1226)
• Kathmandu, Nepal
31 Dec 17
I also think different questions in my mind when I were alone. It would be better experience if we're different person everyday.
2 people like this
@innertalks (21081)
• Australia
30 Dec 17
I have come across various versions of your quote, siva.
“Never criticize a man until you've walked a mile in his moccasins.”
“Great Spirit, help me never to judge another until I have walked in his moccasins.”
They are quoted as being American Indian Proverbs.
Chief Burning Ears tells me that this refers to the idea that we are all connected, and that another person's shoes or moccasins belong to the collective association of the ideas of all mankind in their invention, and each person must realise they are only who they are, because the other person's have been who they are too.
This great Iroquois chief lived sometime in the 16th century. He says that this saying had been around a long time before, and was known for centuries in American Indian folk sayings.
Picture Credit:
The picture here has been freely used from the free media site, wikimedia.com
It is a painting of the former Mohawk Chief, Joseph Brant, Chief of the Mohawk (1742 to 1807) by Charles Bird King.
@Shiva49 (26228)
• Singapore
30 Dec 17
Thanks Steve for doing more research on this than I did.
As we are in the cusp of another new year I thought a post like this reminds us of the need for empathy and compassion.
We need more understanding and less of self-righteousness. Jesus's famous words are apt "let him who is without sin cast the first stone".
I have seen in my real life, also on online sites, how similar we are though life experiences do cast a shadow but love, compassion and empathy can never be obliterated - siva
1 person likes this
@innertalks (21081)
• Australia
31 Dec 17
@Shiva49 Yes, our ego can be a problem, if we use it to falsely try to bolster up our position into something that it is really not.
Poetry: The real role of our Ego
Striving to rid yourself of your ego
creates more ego, as the striver is the ego.
Great doubt requires great effort to overcome it,
as if it has no great faith attached to it, it stays.
Faith answers your questions with itself.
You cannot grow faith, without love coming along too.
Faith lifts the impossible up with its strength.
Love loves all with faith's arms around its shoulders.
Love lives in faith with your ego as well,
but when your ego overtakes love with its own wants,
faith is needed to overcome the ego's bolstering nature
with itself, and then all is restored, once again.
@Shiva49 (26228)
• Singapore
30 Dec 17
@innertalks Yes Steve, keeping an open mind helps in spotting and gathering the precious stones.
Keep the windows open for the wind to blow in and out but we need not sweep away all the dust as some may be precious in disguise!
Sadly, we tend to keep our minds set, my way or the highway types, especially how leaders go about their jobs with huge egos and pride that go before a certain fall.
Realising we are part of the whole with the ability to influence and balance the ride gives us fulfillment - siva
1 person likes this
